


More than One is a Crowd

by Sophisticated_Adult



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Being Manjoume Is Suffering, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 16:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10193837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophisticated_Adult/pseuds/Sophisticated_Adult
Summary: Well, if anyone was going to appear on his doorstep one day without hearing from them in years toting along a mysterious time-travelling biker from the future, of course it was going to be Judai.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 50th fanfic-versary to me, featuring: fandom(s) I've written exactly zero fics for! But it does feature my favourite character being important and doing stuff so it is still in the spirit of the fics that I write. You can still pretend there are robots and/or skeletons and/or fire elementals in here if you want, I won't stop you because that sounds rad.
> 
> This was supposed to be shippy but it mostly ended up with Manjoume and Judai being dicks to each other and I'm ok with that tbh

He didn’t exactly get many visitors, and there were reports of suspicious door-to-door guys in the area, so when the doorbell rang Manjoume was mostly expecting to shut it in the face of some guys who wanted to repair his gutter or something.

He wasn’t expecting a beaming face he hadn’t seen in literal years.

_“Judai?”_

“Manjoume! It’s sure been a while! Wow, you’ve got taller. Anyway, can we come in?” Judai flashed that brilliant smile that, in Manjoume’s experience, meant ‘I really, really want something from you, please please please.’ Mostly it got directed at teachers, and he was near insulted at having it turned on him.

“Wha-” Too stunned to even think about correcting the ‘-san,’ Manjoume nearly took a step back, but fought down the impulse. “Wait, who’s ‘we’?”

“Oh - this is Yusei, he’s a pal of mine.” Judai stepped aside to introduce the brooding stranger Manjoume hadn’t initially noticed, but in hindsight, probably should have. “He’s, uh,” Judai paused and looked up to the guy. “Shoot, how much can we tell him?”

“Is he likely to believe it?” Yusei asked, looking Manjoume over, who tried not to bristle. In the current circumstances, he felt like he was doing pretty well. Judai looked to Manjoume as well, as though performing some mental evaluation.

“Well, we saw some pretty crazy stuff at school, right?”

“Look, just come inside,” Manjoume growled. He didn’t want the neighbours to stare.

“All right! Thanks, Manjoume, you’re the best.” Judai grinned at him as he walked past. He rolled his eyes and tried not to glare at Yusei as the taller man passed by. Whatever had made Judai decide to suddenly drop in out of the blue, it probably wasn’t this guy’s fault. Probably.

“I don’t have much,” Manjoume said as he shut the door. “I wasn’t really expecting visitors.”

“Aren’t you super-rich?” Judai asked, carelessly tossing his shoes off and sitting himself down on the sofa, waving Yusei over once the other man had much more neatly lined his own shoes against the wall. Manjoume scoffed.

“Please. They’ve pretty much disowned me without actually going through with the paperwork and legal stuff. Not that I care. After that ramshackle hut the school called a dorm, this is practically a palace.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice place.” Judai looked around. “You still duelling?”

“I-” Manjoume stared, thunderstruck. “Of course I’m still duelling! You think I settled down and got a _job?”_

“Well-” Judai scratched the side of his nose. “It’s been a while. Hey, do you still do – you know – ‘Manjoume Thunder!'?" He punched the air with his fist.

“Of course.” He folded his arms. It was a gimmick, but it was a gimmick the fans loved, and he knew he’d be disappointing them if they managed to be at one of his duels and didn’t get to see it. He decidedly ignored the sting that Judai _not_ knowing that meant he hadn’t been watching his duels.

“Anyway, what am I supposed to ‘believe’ with this guy?” he asked, nodding towards Yusei.

“Well…” Judai looked to Yusei, who, after a moment’s pause, nodded. This, apparently was a cue to open the floodgates: “He’s from the future, but he can’t really tell us anything, except that everyone gets sweet motorbikes. And a bunch of stuff about dragons? I didn’t really get that.”

“It’s not important.” Yusei shook his head. “I can’t give any specifics. I might be endangering the future with my presence here alone.”

“Yeah. So, we just need a place to crash while we figure out how to get Yusei back home.” Judai looked at him expectantly. As if that was that.

“And you decided I was the best option for that.” Manjoume’s glare had about as much an effect on Judai as it had at school, which was to say, none whatsoever.

“Well, to be honest, Shou and Asuka would let us stay regardless of what their situation was. You’d tell us to get lost if you didn’t want us here. So, if you want us gone, we’ll go.”

In twisted, Judai-logic, Manjoume could actually make sense of that. It was true, there was no way Judai’s old friends would turn him away, so to get around imposing on them, he’d gone to the one who would tell him no. Probably. Almost certainly.

“What about your best friend ever?” Manjoume asked, not a tad bitter, thank you very much. “I’m sure he’d love to have you over.”

“Ah, Johan? He’s back home right now.”

“I see. For a second I was worried you might be prioritising someone else over him.”

“Manjoume, come on.” Judai was, at last, starting to lose his carefree brightness, and it was still as deeply satisfying as it ever was.

“Look.” Yusei stood up suddenly. “I apologise if we are intruding. As Judai said, if you don’t want us here-”

“Hey, I wasn’t – sit back down, I’m sorry. Judai just kind of has that effect on me.”

“Do I?”

Manjoume’s eyebrow twitched.

\--- 

In the end, they ordered takeout – Manjoume had been meaning to go shopping the last few days, and now he needed some extra items on his list. He flatly refused to give up his bed, but Judai had near-instantly conceded the couch to Yusei, happily saying that he could sleep anywhere. That was something no-one was about to argue any time soon.

Manjoume woke in a bleary daze the next morning, completely forgetting, initially, that anything had changed since yesterday. He shuffled his way down to the kitchen as usual, but stopped when he heard voices that weren’t the high squeaking of the Ojamas having their regular morning argument, or the Dark Scorpions swapping theories back and forth about the various crime shows they liked to watch. (Usually it involved how they would totally have done it better).

“No, I just think that – oh, hey, Manjoume.” Judai was sat at his table, halfway through a box of crackers, of all things. Normally he’d sneer at such a thing being considered an entire breakfast, but he was brought up short by the demon standing at his window. Seeing him stare, Judai paused briefly.

“Oh, uh, I kinda forgot you could do the duel spirit thing too. This is Yubel, she, um, well, I don’t know if you remember her?”

It seemed like he should remember her, if Judai was asking in the first place, yet he didn’t. At this point, though, he felt that there was no sense in thinking that _now_ Judai must be lying to him.

The demon inclined her head at him and said nothing. Manjoume swallowed. If he’d thought Yusei could loom quietly in the background, he had nothing on her.

“It’s a really long story, but she’s good now and she’s travelling with me. And stuff.” Judai helpfully explained before shoving another cracker in his mouth. Manjoume didn’t miss the _now_ , but had the distinct feeling that questioning it would not lead to pleasant places.

“Oh, and you might need to get some cat food, I think I’m nearly out and Pharaoh gets cranky if he doesn’t get the good stuff. And I mean with actual meat, not the 90% ash ones or whatever.”

“You didn’t say anything about-” but no, there he was on the floor, the old, fat cat happily licking up the last of his breakfast. “What, is Daitokuji-sensei in there as well?”

“It’s funny you should say that-”

“Good morning, Manjoume-kun, it’s been a while!”

It was way too early for this.

Manjoume sat down.

“Explain.”

And that was without getting into the mysterious biker from the future.

\---

Manjoume rubbed his eyes. Really, it turned out there was a lot he could put up with. He deserved some sort of medal for it. Right now, it involved the Ojamas bickering over his shoulder over what groceries to get (they couldn’t even _eat_ , honestly, they just wanted to feel like they were important and that their input mattered), while Judai and Tall, Dark and Okay, Kind of Handsome got their own stuff (he wasn’t buying Judai’s damn cat food for him).

He could actually sense Yubel’s presence, ever since she’d shown herself, and it was kind of freaking him out. She was nothing like the Ojamas, who were a familiar annoyance, but she exuded a kind of – of pressure, and frankly it was migraine-inducing. He didn’t know how Judai could stand the constant, looming presence. Then again, he put up with the Ojamas, didn’t he? He supposed everyone had their limits. Speaking of, Yellow chose that moment to squeal directly into his ear:

“Look! It’s Mr. Handsome!” The little creature bounced up and down, excitedly pointing out Yusei at the other end of the aisle, where he was examining a shelf of almost-past-the-sell-by-date special offers Manjoume had already dismissed as not worth it.

“You should talk to him!” Black agreed eagerly.

“He’s not that handsome,” Green muttered sullenly, causing the other two to turn angrily on it.

“Hey, butt out!”

“ _You_ butt out!”

“Don’t _you_ tell _me_ to-”

Doing his best to ignore the ongoing squabble, because the alternative was to tell them to _shut up_ and look crazy to the rest of the shoppers, Manjoume gritted his teeth and grabbed something into his basket just for the distraction.

“Are you alright, Manjoume-san?”

He nearly jumped at Yusei’s sudden, low voice.

“Yes, of course, I’m fine,” he said, trying his best to avoid showing that he was actually kind of the opposite right now. The other man regarded him for a few moments, then nodded. “All right. Please don’t push yourself if you’re not feeling well.”

Whoa, what?

“I’m not – I mean –”

\---

“Hey, this is awesome! They’re talking to each other! Without me around to set Manjoume off, I mean.”

“Judai. They can probably see you.”

“Oh, shoot.” Judai ducked behind a pile of cabbages. “Can you tell what they’re saying, Yubel?”

“No.” His other half seemed decidedly unimpressed. “He plainly dislikes you, Judai. I don’t see why you chose him of all people.”

“I said that earlier, Shou and Asuka’d never say no. And hey, he hasn’t said no yet. C’mon, he’s not all that bad. Heh, you didn’t even see him at his worst, when he was, like, this super-rich asshole kid, only way more. He’s really mellowed out.”

Manjoume spun around and angrily stormed off down the aisle just as Judai finished talking. Yubel didn’t need to speak – she just radiated a special kind of I-Told-You-So smugness instead.

“Huh.” Judai rubbed at his chin, pondering, watching as Yusei sighed, shrugged and turned back to the shelves. “Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”

\---

Manjoume was quietly seething – Yusei thought he was _weak_ and Judai was _Judai_ – but he hadn’t outright told them to get out, so the other two were tactically giving him space. That, and Yusei really needed some almost-alone time with his bike. It didn’t look broken to Judai, but then he was aware that he knew very little about most things that weren’t related to card games or spirits or evil cults and the stopping thereof, so he just sort of hovered while Yusei looked it over.

“Think you can fix it?” Judai asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking up at the bright blue sky.

“Honestly, there’s been worse,” Yusei said, not looking up from where he was kneeling and tinkering with the bike. Judai nodded. It wasn’t, like, totalled or anything, it just wasn’t working right now. “I know what the problem is. It’ll just take some time.”

“Cool.” Judai stuck his hands in his pockets. “Hey, if your rad friends from the future ever end up here, let ‘em know they can hang with me. But, uh, I travel about a lot, so if I’m not around, maybe drop in on Manjoume and I’ll see if I can get here.”

“I’ll be sure to tell them that.” Gentle amusement filled Yusei’s voice. “After telling them that he needs his space.”

“Yeah, we’ve kind of been jerks about this whole thing, haven’t we?”

\---

It was a relief, but also something else he couldn’t identify, when Yusei announced that the bike was ready. He wanted to say something like, do you even _know_ that going really fast is going to bring you back to your time, but Manjoume could already sense the futility of arguing. He just nodded instead, while Judai cheered and celebrated and remarked on how cool and amazing Yusei was.

“Manjoume-san, I’m sorry if we caused any trouble. I’m truly grateful for your kindness in letting us stay here.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Manjoume shrugged. Judai would have found a way. At least this way he could keep an eye on the idiot.

That was that. Manjoume had places to be, so he waved them off and went to his business lunch with his manager as usual.

When he got home, the place seemed…emptier than it had been a mere week ago, before a whirlwind of madness had entered his life and left almost as quickly. There were no voices in the other room, no forgotten knick-knacks lying around.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Manjoume told himself, setting some shopping down on the table, when he noticed a scrap of paper and a duel monsters card that he recognised as the holofoil Judai had been excited to pull from some booster packs he’d bought on their little shopping trip. Manjoume remembered how he’d rolled his eyes; it was last year’s set. Despite that he already had his own copy (and was somewhat leery of those who put value in a card’s sparkliness over other factors after his zero-attack win over his brothers), he still understood the gesture.

On the note was a number, with ‘call me!’ written underneath in a scrawling mess that could only be Judai’s handwriting. Random doodles filled the rest of the paper, including one of Winged Kuriboh and Ojama Yellow awkwardly high-fiving each other. The proportions were all wrong, and he clearly hadn’t used a reference.

Manjoume wasn’t going to call the number, he knew that for certain, but he could put it into his phone, so he’d know when the annoyance was trying to call _him_ , and the card, well, obviously that was going into a protective sleeve, he wasn’t an _animal_.

He was just glad that all this was finally over. That was all.

\---

Several months later, Manjoume’s relaxing evening was rudely interrupted by a loud, insistent knocking. He made his way to the door, opened it, and was greeted with a very tall blond man with the proud countenance of Seto Kaiba in his prime, and a much shorter companion with wild orange hair.

“Are you Manjoume Jun?” Blondie barked at him. He was wearing what looked like a white racing suit and holding a cycle helmet under one arm.

“I – yes – ” who would _not_ know who he was –

It was then that he noticed that Orange Hair had strange yet familiar markings on his face – where he seen them before…?

Yusei’s face swam up in his memory.

“Good, this is the place,” Blondie told his companion. “Ahem! You may know a friend of ours! We were told, if we ever needed it, you would know someone called -”

“Sorry, he gets like that,” Orange Hair said, mistaking his eyebrow twitch for something else. “It’s been a pretty crazy day.”

_He was going to kill Judai._

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't rewatch anything before writing this so I probably got a bunch of stuff wrong so you can yell at me for that I guess, it's cool


End file.
